As the year 2016 makes its baby steps, my mind has been wandering and wondering a lot about a few fundamental issues in life. Many a times when I read various articles or pieces of writings, be they news items or just individual opinions on blogs, I am left wondering which way is the best way living in this world? As a Christian, I must admit that the one book in the Bible that I never tire of reading and rereading is Ecclesiastes. Those of you that have read this book in the Bible will most likely agree that it is thought a provoking piece that is very philosophical….at times it even makes me doubt the meaning of Christianity….makes me want to resign to destiny but again therein lies the very reason I still believe.
I know different scholars, philosophers, theologians, lawyers….well and all of us anyway, have defined life-based on various bases…religion, ethics, morality, law, culture…and so forth. This year, as early as it is, I am trying to engage my mind on understanding life. A lot of the time, we see life from our own lenses and stand points. Within Christianity itself, there are major differences…even more of sibling rivalry if you like. Followers of certain denominations or churches feel more ‘saved’ and heavenly that others! In fact crusaders and preachers are more focused on getting more followers from other churches rather than from the streets or ‘sinful’ places….like brothels, strip clubs or those places ‘za ajabu’ ( ratchety places). On a wider scale, some religions feel more heaven-bound than the others…some races superior than others just as some tribes feel more forward-looking than others. I remember growing in a situation where among the Ameru community some sub-tribes were looked down by others….unfortunately or fortunately as it turned out for me, I happen to come from the sub tribe considered the least among the Ameru sub tribes…never mind or feel pity on me because this never put me down at any given time. I never found the need to change my tongue as many of my tribes men did while in the company of our colleagues from the ‘superior’ sub tribes. I always stuck with my funny dialect as it sounded….wasn’t easy though!
Sorry I digress from my main topic… about issues of morality, ethics, religion, law…etc. The thing is in my close to 40 years on this earth, I have met people who are very religious yet very corrupt, arrogant and as bad as bad can be. Still on this earth I have met folks who don’t believe in a God or god but the nicest fellows ever. Well, it is also true that I have met very many religious and decent people who take their religious orientation seriously… I have also met many folks who don’t believe in any religious and sure enough as evil and terrible people to be around as hell.
This has led me to some basic conclusion: good or bad people cut across all religions, ethical bases as well as races, class, tribes….or any manner of dichotomy you can imagine of… well this year, whatever your creed, religion, race, gender… I believe you can purpose to do good….just being a little more mindful of the next person and with that, the world will be a better place for all of us. I really don’t care what you believe in but if that which you believe in makes trouble for another person, then it cannot be a good thing you are doing. I want to use the Mandera incidence where some Muslims stood against evil to protect innocent non-Muslims ( I don’t know whether everybody who was not Muslim was a Christian in that bus) from being massacred in cold blood by the al-shabaab attackers. I can bet at that time whether one was a pastor or even the pope, the main thing was survival and lifesaving….which was achieved. Whether the Muslims were following their religious tenets or morality the bottom line is that they did a good thing and made the world better.
As a country, Kenya, if we took a moment to reflect on the impact of our actions to the rest of the society, then we can have fewer incidences of corruption cases, theft of public resources among other evils bedeviling our society. I am imaging in that Mandera bus there must be one person who raised the first voice to say that everybody in the bus was a Muslim then others followed….in our own small ways we can surely change the world and turn the tide.
Happy New Year 2016 and may you choose to do good this year.